As I wandered around Hillcrest I noticed quite a few azaleas in bloom. One of the especially prolific group of them had a plethora of white flowers with pink sprinkles. At least I now know that my new red azalea, which I bought last spring just as it finished blooming, has not gone insane as I feared: I noticed it starting to bloom too and thought I had somehow driven it nuts.

There were also quite a few roses in bloom, unfortunately my camera when on autopilot tends to blow out the highlights, but at least you can see the prolixity of the white rose plant. The yard where I spotted the Iceland Poppy had what I thought was quite an interesting landscaping, with unusual and rather striking combinations of foliage, rock, and flower colors. As I headed home I noticed a very large shrub rather gayly sporting purple flowers, whose buds were red. It made a very nice display. I have no idea what it is, but it obviously was doing very well.

Speaking of doing well, La Verne was originally a successful citrus producing city, and one of my neighbors has an orange tree that is doing very well indeed. My orange trees haven't done a thing in the fruit producing department, although two of them are growing quite well. My lemon tree however is doing great: the first year I had several lemons, this year I harvested about a dozen, and it looks like next year will be even better. It has already set two dozen lemons and is currently in bloom, with more baby lemons appearing every day. One of the new crop is already starting to show a blush of yellow.